An artificial organ for delivering a chemical within a living body. The organ contains both a cell culture, a means for controlling the cell culture, and a means for delivering one or more chemicals produced by the cell culture.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,647, of Ammon B. Peck et al., discloses a process for producing insulin in vitro. According to the patentees, the process of this patent may be used to produce insulin within the body of a diabetic patient.
Diabetes is a major public health problem. Diabetics lack the ability of normal human beings of regulating the glucose concentrations within their blood by producing and ceasing the production of insulin, as appropriate.
Insulin is necessary for the sustaining of life. Without its production, blindness may be produced, hyperketosis may be produced, brain cells may be killed, and the vascular system may be damaged. However, the presence of insulin in the blood is a mixed blessing. Too much insulin, a condition known as hyperinsulimia, has been to cause premature aging, arthritis, and cancer.
The process of the Peck et al. Patent produces insulin regardless of whether it is needed by a particular patient. In such process, islet producing stem cells continually produce insulin. When an apparatus embodying the Peck et al. process is incorporated into a living body, the insulin so produced continually permeate into the blood supply; in Example 12 of such patent, the use of a xe2x80x9cpermeable encapsulantxe2x80x9d is disclosed.
As will be apparent, when insulin is continually discharged into a human body, a point will come when it is no longer serving the function of regulating glucose levels in the body, and, at and after this point, the adverse effects of hyperinsulimia will occur. It is not natural, or desirable, for a person to continually have high levels of insulin in his blood.
It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus capable of homestatically regulating the level of insulin in a living organism.
It is another object of this invention to provide an apparatus for homeostatically regulating various other hormones within a living organism.
In accordance with this invention, there is provided an apparatus for regulating the concentration of insulin within the blood of a living organism. This apparatus is comprised of a cell culture for producing insulin, means for measuring the concentration of glucose within the blood of such living organism, means for measuring the concentration of insulin within the blood of such living organism, means for delivering a specified amount of insulin the blood of such living organism, and means for reducing the amount of insulin within such blood of such living organism.